His childlike glee was one of the highlights of this year’s Oscar ceremony and it seems Eddie Redmayne really is young at heart. Having secured Hollywood’s highest accolade, he’s jumped aboard a straight-to-dvd animated movie of evergreen kids’ favourite Thomas The Tank Engine.

With an unusual subtitle of Sodor’s Legend Of The Lost Treasure, the new production also stars John Hurt and Jamie Campbell Bower. Sodor is the fictional island location where the stories are set, though sounds for all the world like something out of Lord Of The Rings these days.

John Boorman first made his name as a filmmaker to be reckoned with upon the release of 1967’s Point Blank, one of the seminal films of that decade. Classics such as Deliverance (1972), Excalibur (1981) and The Emerald Forest (1985) followed, with 1987’s Hope and Glory, Boorman’s personal memoir of growing up in Ww II London during the Blitz, being one of his career high points, garnering five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, as well as winning a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (comedy) and sweeping that year’s BAFTAs in every major category.

Rupert Murdoch’s recently reconfigured Sky paybox looks to have the makings to become a new force in the international TV drama landscape as it begins to flex its pan-European muscles.

At its foundation are 24 million subscribers and $16.7 billion in revenues created through the 2014 merger of the U.K.’s BSkyB and its sister companies in Italy and Germany. It has adopted a multiterritory release strategy, a la Netflix, for certain high-end (and pricier) projects and, to compete in international TV’s current scripted-content arms race, it has greenlit more complex productions aimed to travel.

“There are budgetary, logistical and temporal hurdles to be overcome before the new Sky can be viewed in the same way as an HBO or an AMC can,” cautioned London-based TV analyst Anna Stuart of research firm Ihs Technology, noting that the company still faces challenges as it seeks to become a major player. “But
»

Twice yearly Queen Elizabeth II, as monarch of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, publishes a list of the names of those she is going to bestow honours upon – including the people who are going to be knighted.

At New Year and on the Queen’s official birthday in June, the list of the new “sirs” and “dames” – as well as those receiving other appointments to the Order of the British Empire – are announced, with the most-recent group including actor John Hurt and ChildLine founder Esther Rantzen.

However, there is a prestigious list of names of those who have rejected the chance to be knighted – including some of the best-loved actors, musicians, artists, writers and inventors – for varying reasons, some to much acclaim, others to much criticism.

The majority of rejections have been made privately, although there are a select few examples whereby the person has
»

Just one month after director Neill Blomkamp shared his illustrations for a new Alien movie he was unofficially working on, the filmmaker revealed today that this will actually be his next project. The director revealed last week that he had this Alien movie in his head, while working in post-production on Chappie, commissioning a number of concept art illustrations featuring Alien star Sigourney Weaver as Ripley and Aliens actor Michael Biehn as Hicks. While he admitted that 20th Century Fox never knew about the artwork and his ideas for the movie, he hinted in recent interviews that the movie may actually happen. Now it seems that is the case, according to his brief message on Instagram earlier today, along with another illustration.

After debuting concept art for an Alien movie he always wanted to make, Chappie director Neill Blomkamp revealed yesterday that the project may actually happen at 20th Century Fox. Some of the drawings featured Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, who is wearing a space jockey helmet in one illustration, and Aliens star Michael Biehn as Hicks. While also doing press for Chappie, Sigourney Weaver revealed that she would actually be interested in returning as Ripley, if this project ever comes to fruition.

"He kept sending me these brilliant designs and ideas and everything. We'll see what happens."

When asked if she felt there was more she wanted to explore with her beloved and iconic Ripley character, the actress had this to say.

"It's not that so much is that we just left it at such a creepy place, sort of stranded above Earth. I was quite happy to move onto other
»

Xeitgeist Entertainment Group has joined UK-based Big Book Media as investment and production partner on the film, about a veteran spy sent to Syria to smuggle a chemical weapons scientist and his family out of Damascus.

Xeitgeist Entertainment Group has joined UK-based Big Book Media as investment and production partner on the film, about a veteran spy sent to Syria to smuggle a chemical weapons scientist and his family out of Damascus.

Laika (Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls) is bringing an insanely-inventive short film, The Alchemist’s Letter, and this is a trailer you have to see. You aren’t going to get that much, but it already looks so good that it will have you begging for more.

Given what we’ve seen come out of the studio, you have to think that there is a great story to offer here as well, and this looks like a short that could expand the abilities and delivery of the medium in much the way that Pixar‘s forced-view effort has.

Get the info below, and check this trailer out.

Pixel Veil Productions Release Trailer For Animated Short Film, The Alchemist’S Letter
New Dark Fairy Tale Narrated by Academy Award-Nominated John Hurt Takes Viewers on Richly Inventive Journey Through the Power of a Person’s Memories

Hey, Toronto! Twitch is proud to present Dancing With The Devil - an extensive retrospective of Spanish maverick Alex de la Iglesia unspooling at the Tiff Bell Lightbox. Things continue this week with a February 8th screening of his The Oxford Murders and we want to give you tickets!De la Iglesia's second foray into English-language filmmaking stars Elijah Wood as Martin, an American student at Oxford who becomes involved in a string of mysterious murders that seem to involve his academic idol, legendary mathematician Arthur Seldom (John Hurt). When Martin discovers that the crimes seem to be planned according to mathematical sequences, he races to stop the killer's fatal, logical conclusion -- but as the sardonic Seldom insists, even mathematics cannot always give us the...

“Damascus Cover is a great script – believable and brilliant. The characters and situations are vividly drawn and the Middle East setting really brings to life this spellbinding moment in history, which is both topical and timely. With Daniel at the helm, it’s going to be a beautiful picture.
»

We’ve all been there. You eat and eat and eat, and your stomach gets so full, you feel as if you’re about to burst. Well, if you were Kane (played by John Hurt) in Ridley Scott’s “Alien,” then burst it did. Though, not exactly due to too much food.
The “chestburster” scene from the 1979 film is one of cinema’s all time classics, and CineFix breaks down the mechanics and history behind it in this amazing new “Art of the Scene.” The nine-minute video starts with an introduction of the key players behind the “Alien” aesthetic, namely Scott, writers Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett, and designers Ron Cobb, Chris Foss, and H.R. Giger.
Cobb, a former engineer, was largely responsible for the look of the Nostromo, the crew’s ship in the film. The dining room he helped bring about gave a sense of normalcy to the deep-space setting,
»

With the 65th Berlin Film festival primed to kick off later this week, we can readily expect studio execs to offer up their movies in a bid to secure those all-important distribution rights. And of those attendees is Daniel Zelik Berk’s Damascus Cover, which recently tapped The Tudors star Jonathan Rhys Meyers for the lead role.

Based on Howard Kaplan’s eponymous novel, the film will tell the true-life tale of a veteran spy (Rhys Meyers) who infiltrates a dangerous area in Syria in order to smuggle a chemical weapons scientist and his family out of the country. However, not all is what it seems after our protagonist partner is Awol before the mission can even begin, leaving Rhys Meyer’s character stranded and, in what is perhaps the movie’s most interesting sub-plot, caught in the midst of a possible conspiracy theory.

Jonathan Rhys Myers is to star in 'Damascus Cover'. The 'Mission Impossible III' star will take on the lead role in the espionage thriller, which is based on the 1977 novel by Howard Kaplan. He said: ''I'm enormously excited about this role. This was a hugely significant time in the conflict in the Middle East, post-cold war and with the collapse of the Berlin Wall when an amount of spies were redeployed to the Middle East, where the theatre of covert operations would now take precedence. ''With a highly thoughtful and intelligent script by Daniel Berk and Samantha Newton I'm thrilled to be a part of this project and can't wait to start shooting with a very gifted international cast and crew.'' The 37-year-old actor has already joined Olivia Thirlby, Sir John Hurt and others in Morocco, as filming begins in the African country this week. Speaking about her role,
»

The film is based on true events, and set in 1989 as the Berlin Wall falls.

It centres around a spy in Syria attempting to smuggle a chemical weapons scientist and his family out of the country.

"I'm enormously excited about this role," said Meyers.

"This was a hugely significant time in the conflict in the Middle East, post-Cold War and with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, when an amount of spies were redeployed to the Middle East, where the theatre of covert operations would now take precedence."

Film is based on Howard Kaplan’s best-selling 1977 novel. Set in 1989, the plot focuses on a veteran spy sent undercover in Syria to smuggle a chemical weapons scientist and his family out of Damascus. Within days of his arrival he realizes he’s being followed. His partner doesn’t show, his local contact disappears, and a group of men are trying to kill him. It’s not long before his routine mission unravels to reveal a string of murderous conspirators. The events and people in the script are based on true-life events.

IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.